HTC, by its own estimation, had a great year in 2011. That said, it’s taking a hard look in the mirror, and wondering what could have been done differently to have made the year even better. Declining profits in the last quarter kept the company from being as profitable as it would have liked to be. After doing a little soul-searching, HTC seems to have come to the conclusion that the best way to drive sales isn’t to flood the market with a glut of smartphone model options, but to put its best foot forward and focus on the production of a limited number of “hero” phones: high-end, high-profile models.

HTC’s Phil Roberson spoke with Mobile magazine about the company’s strategy, which will involve not only a renewed focus on high-end handsets, but putting tablets on the back burner, for the time being at least; we might see a single new tablet, or even two, but don’t expect anything like a Samsung-level of tablet production.

While there’s certainly a market for low-to-midrange smartphones, the question for HTC was whether it made sense to divide its efforts between those and top-tier devices. Companies like Apple have made this focus on hero devices work, but HTC is still concerned about the risk of putting all its eggs in one basket; if any one fails to sell as expected, it could represent major losses.

Be on the lookout for the arrival of some of HTC’s top-tier hero phones during the second quarter of this year.